Soofa Brings Facebook to the Sidewalk

Not only is Soofa the only sustainable digital messaging platform for advertisers and landowners, we’re also the first out-of-home platform to bring Facebook to the sidewalk. 

Our engineering team is proud to announce the launch of a Facebook integration for all Soofa Signs. The new widget allows landowners to connect a Facebook page to their Soofa Signs and display updates to communicate with their neighborhood. 

“The addition of Facebook adds to the list of features available on Soofa Signs that no other OOH platform can offer,” noted Jaques de Kock, Soofa’s Director of Engineering. “This widget will make it easy for landowners to communicate hyperlocal content and control all of their messaging in one place.”

“Many cities utilize Facebook as their main platform for community news and events, so we’re thrilled to have this new widget available on our Soofa Signs, said Courtney Peterson, Soofa’s Customer Operations Manager. “This allows for those not connected to social media to view all the great content their community works hard to cultivate.”

Bradenton, Florida’s neighborhood newsfeed featuring new Facebook widget

How it Works

After a Soofa Sign is installed and set up, landowners can connect one Facebook page to the Soofa Sign via SoofaTalk, our online user platform. Once the connection is approved by a Facebook admin, the landowners’ Facebook page will be online and updated on their Soofa Signs for everyone to see. 

Some cities and municipalities use Facebook the most to interact with community members, which is why many wanted this feature to be part of their Soofa Sign experience. The Facebook widget will make communication even easier for landowners, since all they’ll need to do is post to their Facebook page. 

“Soofa’s best-in-class engineering team always listens to our partners and acts on their ideas,” said Lindsay Gardner, Chief Executive Officer at Soofa. “The Facebook integration required a year of development work, some of it in coordination with Facebook itself, and it’s going to be well worth it.”  

More Ways to Connect

The widget went through testing phases with Bradenton, Florida, and Augusta, Georgia, to prepare for the launch and yielded positive results. These cities are some of the first to utilize the Facebook tool, and they’re already inspired by the ways they can use it moving forward. 

“We are excited to incorporate Facebook into our Soofa Signs because we can more readily and accessibly showcase the DDA's and downtown Augusta's milestones, events, and highlights,” said Katherine Bonner, Project Coordinator from the Downtown Development Authority of Augusta. “Social media allows us to amplify local voices, and incorporating this applet into our kiosks gives us increased potential to highlight and serve our community.”

Operations team members pictured left to right: Courtney Peterson, Clarence Epps, and Jutta Friedrichs after Augusta, Georgia Soofa Sign install.

“We are eager to have as many pedestrian interactions with our Soofa Signs as possible and believe that the Facebook integration will be key to accomplishing that,” said Christophe St. Luce, Assistant City Administrator in Bradenton. “Facebook will continue to promote events, share welcome images, and post reminders of important information. It is our hope that we will share information for local partners as well.” 

Future Widgets

Facebook is only the start of what’s possible for Soofa Sign widgets. In the future, our engineering team predicts that landowners will be able to customize their Soofa Signs to feature the widgets they want, giving their signs a customized layout. 

Currently, Soofa Signs are equipped with a polling widget, transit updates, Facebook, Twitter, and a poster widget which holds messages for a longer period of time. 

Soofa is proud to bring this integration to new and existing customers, and we look forward to seeing how cities choose to use Facebook on Soofa Signs in the future.

Written by: Ally Peters

Ally is a Content Marketing Specialist at Soofa and spends her days researching and reporting on current trends in smart city infrastructure and OOH media.